Starship Technologies wants to launch second U.S. pilot in Menlo Park

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A woman pulls a bag of groceries out of one of Starship Technologies’ self-driving robots. The European company wants to make Menlo Park the second U.S. city to run a pilot of its delivery robots. (Starship Technologies)

A representative for Starship Technologies, a European company developing self-driving robots that deliver local goods over short distances, Tuesday asked the Menlo Park City Council to let it run a nine- to 12-month pilot on downtown residential streets.

If approved, Menlo Park would be just the second U.S. city, after Washington, D.C., to experiment with the robots, which are about as large as a medium-sized dog. The robots, which max out at 4 mph, would get around on sidewalks and be accompanied by human guides.

Council members fired off a number of questions about the devices, including about privacy, theft and navigation.

“We have done 11,000 miles of testing (with) zero accidents and zero incidents of theft,” said Henry Harris-Burland, a marketing and communications manager for Starship.

He said each robot has alarms that go off if it is picked up, nine cameras “which can be recording” after alarms sound, the ability to let a human operator listen and talk through it, and a top that is locked until unlocked by a recipient through a “unique button” on a cellphone. The robot will only deliver goods when recipients are expecting them, likely no more than two miles from downtown stores.

“We’re trying to make it incredibly difficult to get away with it,” Harris-Burland said, adding that the company has liability insurance in the millions of dollars.

When asked what happens if the robot encounters someone with impaired vision or an approaching bicyclist, he said the robots have “this bubble of awareness … (and) it will take evasive action and get out of the way. … At max speed, it can stop in 30 centimeters.”

Regarding privacy, he said audio is never recorded and video would only be recorded during an incident of theft or vandalism.

While the council was supportive, City Manager Alex McIntyre said he would first confer with the city attorney over any possible safety and legal concerns a pilot self-driving program could trigger. The topic then could return to the council for a policy discussion early next year.

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